Baruch // English 2150 // Fall 2012
Class Notes
I.
II.
III.
Introductions
- Roll Call
CLASS I // 8/28/2012
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E-mail List (Write your name and e-mail address; make sure to use the e-mail address you
check most frequently).
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Handout Syllabus
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Show Blog/Class Website =
http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/authenticityandastonishment/
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First readings (Plato dialogues) and syllabus are on course site.
Discussion of Authenticity
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In order to philosophically and critically uncover things, we will use the following
framework: (1) the ontological, then, (2) the epistemological.
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Ontology = the study of reality // Epistemology = the study of knowledge
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Ontology answers the questions: what, when, where; epistemology answers the questions:
why and how. Once we uncover and discover reality, we can then find and further all that we
know about various essences, things, etc.
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Read the course synopsis in the syllabus. Ask any questions or provide any comments you
might have.
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*** In-Class Writing *** Introduce a quotation or an idea that you love. Write it out, state
its origin and then offer a professional (non-personal) interpretation of the quotation/idea.
What does it mean? How could/can it be explained to the “general public?” Write this in
your journal and revise it for Thursday.
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Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C0_jDBxJ8w (The Dark Knight) film clip and
discuss what makes an authentic hero, or an authentic villain.
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Discuss the debate/divide between Soren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche (faith and
immorality) . . .
Assignment(s)
- Read Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” and “Meno” (We will discuss them for the next week.)
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Revise your quotation/idea short essay, in your journal. Bring to class to share.
Baruch // English 2150 // Fall 2012
Class Notes
CLASS II // 8.30.2012 (Thurs.)
I.
II.
Review/Recap and Questions
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Prepare your revisions to be shared. If you have not revised them, take the time now and do
so.
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Roll Call
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http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/29/160244277/what-americans-actually-doall-day-long-in-2-graphics (interesting stats, in light of Plato and Socrates, and our
investigative model – the ontological, then the epistemological)
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Any questions about the course, in general, or the syllabus?
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Any volunteers to read their revised great idea short essay?
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Comments . . .
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Ideas about revision = Check for spelling errors, capitalization errors, punctuation errors;
activate your sentences by beginning them with the thing the whole sentence refers to (not
prepositional phrases).
Discussion of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” (The average view, Heideger’s view, and,
hopefully, our own)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTWwY8Ok5I0&feature=related (animated feat)
Being a prisoner in the cave is several times removed from the actual. This occurs in three stages
1. Images (shadows on the wall // forms)
2. The sources of those images
3. The ultimate reality behind both 1 and 2
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At the first common stage of understanding, we form opinions—doxa—which reflect how we’ve
taken in reality’s superficial appearance; in general, we absorb the sights and sounds of experiences to
constitute reality. BUT, it requires a significant turn of mind/thought to distinguish this apparent
reality from actual conditions, objects and events that may in fact produce it.
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Ex: the greenness of grass or that which makes it appear green to us. (Grass hit by sunlight gives off
a radioactive wavelength of “green light” which measures 510 nanometers. This is both image and
truth behind image explaining a cause.
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A second stage in understanding (intellectual development) for Plato occurs when we distinguish and
recognize the distinction between an illusory object of knowledge (the shadows of the carvings on
the wall) and a truer one (the carvings themselves). This is Plato’s implication that nature (not just
trees and the moon or the outdoors but the material world and all its elements along with their inherent
qualities) has a true essence that examining only means-ends relationships does not quite finish the
process of. Even with all our knowledge, we have yet to come to a perfect understanding of the
things behind mere appearances. For that, we must move outside the cave and encounter the intense
Baruch // English 2150 // Fall 2012
Class Notes
light of the sun which will blind us and the light of that sun will then dissipate and display further
possibilities of reality.
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So, pay attention to all the symbols in the dialogue between Glaucon and Socrates. Let’s list the
symbols . . .
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRNMZEDOBrM (The Matrix and Plato)
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Martin Heidegger, twentieth century ontologist/essentialist philosopher and author of Being and Time
discusses Plato’s Allegory in the vein of (his coinage) the unhidden. Unhidden is a great term (he
compares it to truth) because it contains the word hidden which is immediately juxtaposed by the
prefix un. . .
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He notes, further, “the prisoners do indeed see the shadows but not as shadows of something.” (20)
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As readers, we must carefully pay attention to things like prepositions. All the weight in that previous
statement falls on the word as. Sure, that is a shadow but not a shadow of something. If I can see a
person walking outside in the brightness of a sunny day and I can see their shadow cast on the
sidewalk, I can make the distinction between figure of person and figure of shadow. This is key when
picturing Plato’s image in our minds, as readers, because we then have to imagine what it is like to
only see shadows but not see anything else, basically, as Heidegger claims, “the absence of
distinction.”
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Now, think about people who have never traveled, never left their neighborhood, or, think about a
racist person who has never met someone of another race. Where might they get a distinction?
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We should stop here and note that, generally speaking, there are three kinds of comparisons: similes,
metaphors, and analogies. If we think in comparative (and critically creative) terms, what can we
compare (in our contemporary reality) to Plato’s prisoners?
III.
Assignments
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Go back. Re-read “The Allegory of the Cave” and read “Meno” (by Tuesday)
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Revise your short essay, checking for all errors and correct sentence structure. Use the “Submit
Comment” box on our class website (see Class I) and type or paste in your essay. If you paste it, make
sure the formatting of paragraphs and sentences is correct. . .